Many hospital patient rooms are connected to nurse call systems via patient call devices to allow patients to communicate with the clinical staff of the hospital. Many such nurse call systems have been automated and centralized for handling increasing numbers of patients. Nurse call system manufacturers have also added more buttons to the patient call devices for handling more diversified patient requests.
Existing nurse call systems have many inefficiencies and result in many reports of patient dissatisfaction and even cases of compromised patient safety. For example, in centralized nurse call systems, the chance of a nurse or operator being unable to answer a patient call is increased. The unattended audio alerts from unanswered patient calls create a noisy and unrestful environment. On the other hand, in decentralized nurse call systems, calls to nurses often interrupt patient care. The costs of implementing infrastructure and staffing to support existing nurse call systems are also substantial. These same issues are found in communication systems used in other applications.